Futures Housing Group has helped make over 150 of its customers’ homes more comfortable and affordable to heat by installing a range of energy saving measures over the last 18 months.
The East Midlands based housing association has been awarded over £1.6 million of the government's Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 1 grant since April 2022, as part of a consortia bid led by the Midlands Net Zero Hub.
The funding has been used to improve its least energy efficient homes in Erewash as well as the Amber Valley, and measures such as external wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and draughtproofing have been installed, with a small number of homes receiving solar panels.
A Futures customer who had external wall insulation – a layer of insulating material added to the outside of their home – said: “This time last year my home was freezing but now my home warms up so much quicker when I put the heating on, and it actually stays warm too which I’m really pleased about.”
Darren Lewis, Asset Surveyor at Futures said: “This has been a fantastic project to be involved in knowing that we’re trying to improve customers’ homes and reduce their energy usage. Getting feedback from customers that their home feels warmer is really nice to hear, as making sure our customers live in a safe and comfortable home is ultimately what we aim to do at Futures.”
Futures has worked with its contractor Sustainable Building Services to install the measures, and now over 300 more homes will start to receive similar energy saving measures from 2024 onwards. Futures was awarded £3 million for Wave 2.1 of the government scheme, and will continue to be supported by the Midlands Net Zero Hub consortia, helping Futures on its journey to net zero by 2050.